'Maurits Cornelius Escher' printed from http://nrich.maths.org/

Have you ever noticed how mathematical ideas are often used in patterns that we see all around us? Sometimes it is hard to decide when maths becomes art, or vice-versa.

One artist who may have agreed with this is Maurits Cornelius Escher . He was born in 1898, in the Netherlands, and showed gr

eat artistic talent from an early age. At first Escher concentrated on sketching scenery and things around him. However, on a visit to Alhambra in Spain, he became fascinated by the Arabic tessellating patterns contained in the tiles, and started to experiment more with shapes and mirror images. In the late 1920s people began to recognise his style.

This is called "Castrovalva", a mountainside village, and was finished in 1930

All M.C. Escher works (c) 2001

Cordon Art - Baarn - Holland.

All rights reserved. Used by permission .

Gradually, Escher's work began to change. Rather than drawing what he saw, Escher started to express ideas he had in his mind. He was able to create spatial illusions and detailed repeating patterns.

Escher's popularity in America was increasing and he was now in demand as a lecturer in art, maths and sciences. Mathematicians had been admiring his work since the early 40s and their numbers were growing.

Escher's drawings began to show a new theme towards the late 1950s. He perfected a technique known as "showing infinity" which gave the impression that his sketches were endless. He did this by making the objects gradually smaller towards the edge of the paper. Have a look!